Les millions de Brewster

This is a harmless screwball romp (one of the last of its kind) from the '40s starring DENNIS O'KEEFE as a man who, to satisfy the whim of a wealthy relative, has to spend $1,000,000 within a short amount of time in order to qualify for a $7,000,000 inheritance.

The script makes sure that he has a hard time ridding himself of dough. Seems everything he touches suddenly has the Midas touch. It's stretching it a bit when he even gets a telephone call from some radio show blithely announcing that he just won $25,000. It should happen to all of us, most of whom are still waiting for the Prize Patrol to show up at our door from Publisher's Clearing House.

Anyway, the script makes sure that O'Keefe has to mug his way through many hapless situations involving show biz connections, a fancy yacht, horse racing, everything that conceivably could give him a chance of losing money--but of course there's a happy ending.

Nice to see so many '40s players in the supporting roles. HELEN WALKER, NEIL HAMILTON, JOHN LITEL, JUNE HAVOC,MISCHA AUER, GAIL PATRICK, EDDIE "ROCHESTER" ANDERSON among others.

Allan Dwan directed and keeps things moving at a fast clip. And whatever happened to DENNIS O'KEEFE? He was a good light comedian and did a lot of straight dramatic roles too. Then suddenly he was out of sight in the movies, swallowed up by television for most of his career.

Dennis O'Keefe never became a top-tier star and today is mostly forgotten. It's a shame, as although he may not have had 'the look', he was quite enjoyable in gangster and light comedy films. Here, he and decent dialog manage to take a silly plot and make it worth watching.

The film begins with Monty Brewster (O'Keefe) coming back home after the war. He plans on marrying his sweetie, Peggy (Helen Walker) and settling down to a happy life. However, he soon is contacted by a lawyer. Apparently a VERY eccentric distant uncle has died and left his $8,000,000 to Monty...IF he manages to spend a million of it in two months. Supposedly it's to make him appreciate the value of money and make him sick of spending--though this makes no sense. He also cannot give much of the money to charity. In the process, a funny thing happens...the more he invests in stupid schemes, the more money he seems to make!! And, Peggy is getting sick of him because Monty is NOT allowed to divulge the crazy conditions of the will.

While the film goes a bit overboard when Monty starts acting crazy when he can't get rid of his money, it's a fun and frenetic film. Not deep or sophisticated--just funny. So, provided you can just turn off your brain and enjoy, you'll like this film very much.

Dennis O'Keefe in a field day romp in Brewster's Millions.

He becomes an instant millionaire through inheritance but in order to get the full $8 million, he must spend $1 million by age 30, which is in 2 months.

He is not permitted to tell anyone why he is spending money as if there is no tomorrow. Naturally, his love-life will be adversely affected.

Of course, when this occurs, O'Keefe gets that Midas Touch. Everything and everyone he touches yields a gold-mine.

As his butler, Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson has lots of fun here and you can see that he is enjoying himself..

The film co-stars Helen Walker as his befuddled girlfriend and there is a nice turn by June Havoc, as a flashy Broadway show-girl, caught up in this mayhem.

The picture succeeds because of the fine performance of O'Keefe who has the part of the suddenly wealthy ex-G.I. down to a science. We feel his emotions of joy, frustration and comic desires.

Unfortunately, mention of the film title today always stops with Richard Pryor. While the Peoria comedian deserves mention, his 1985 film is not the definitive version. You have to go back to 1945 to pick up the Dennis O'Keefe rendition. It's wild and wacky, silly enough to amuse but also throws a spotlight on Hollywood's special ability to let one escape from the real world for an hour or two. Good luck finding it!

An archetypal fast and furious, beat-the-clock screwball comedy based on a typically offbeat idea of a returning soldier standing to inherit millions if he can spend a million dollars in two months, but not tell anyone in the process. Cue a procession of hair-brained supposedly dead-duck schemes and investments which naturally come good to thwart our hero's plans until things right themselves by the end.

The basic idea is a good one and you suspect in the hands of a Frank Capra or Preston Sturges could have been wrung for more laughs and one suspects a bit deeper social comment, this failing exposed none more so than when Brewster's overnight largess to his black servant is to offer him a lackey's job for life, just after he's thrown tens of thousands of dollars at the rest of his nearest and dearest.

For me the pacing was just too frenetic and while likable enough the lead actors lacked the personality and timing of the recognised A-list acting talent of the day. Plus, I have to say the crudely deferential treatment of said black man-servant, all loud wise-cracks and "Yass boss, no boss" dates the film horribly.

But putting that to one side, this is a rollicking, occasionally humorous and engaging Golden Age comedy, worth diverting 75 minutes of your time for.